You mean . . . someone who wrote something for publication actually intended to make some money from it? OH, the HORROR!
I am unfamiliar with the passage and its context, so I cannot judge whether it's gratuitous or not. But I do know that as a writer, Webb's style and authenticity of voice degraded immensely after Fields of Fire and A Sense of Honor. A Country Such as This was a cheese factory; I stopped reading him after that.